Access to information stored on computer-readable media, and access to computing resources themselves, can be protected from unauthorized access by requiring, as a condition of access, the provision of one or more identifying elements of data. Traditionally, such identifying elements of data have included passwords or other like data that can be remembered by a user and then provided when prompted to enable such a user to access the protected information or computing resources. As computing devices have become more ubiquitous, the information and computing resources that require protection from unauthorized access has increased while the sophistication and abilities of malicious entities seeking to gain unauthorized access has also increased. Consequently, users have been forced to remember or maintain access to an ever increasing array of identifying data.
Modern computing devices, with their increased processing and storage capacity, are able to obtain biometric information from users in a reliable manner such that that biometric information can serve as the identifying information by which users are granted access to protected computer-readable information or computing resources. While such biometric information typically includes fingerprints, it can also include voice, iris, or other like biometric information. Thus, rather than remembering a password, for example, a modern computer user can simply swipe their finger across a fingerprint sensor and be provided access to protected information or computing resources.
If a malicious entity were to obtain a user's password, or other identifying element of data, access to the protected information or resources can be easily restored by assigning the legitimate user another, different password or identifying data. However, if a malicious entity were to obtain a user's biometric information, such information cannot be so easily changed. A user's fingerprint, for example, is, absent trauma or complex medical procedures, immutable.